Eat Beyond Global Holdings Inc., an investment issuer focused on the global plant-based and alternative food sector, is announcing that its portfolio company, Singapore and U.S. based Turtletree Labs Pte. Ltd. (“TurtleTree”) will be working with Virginia-based Solar Biotech to rapidly and sustainably scale production of its cell-based milk.

Solar Biotech provides contract technology development and manufacturing services for industrial biotechnology partners. It uses its proprietary algorithm to offer tailored modular plant architecture to reduce operating costs and drive scale in biomanufacturing.

TurtleTree’s mission is to provide access to sustainable, reliable, and higher-quality food products. Using its proprietary, cell-based technology method, the company hopes to eliminate the reliance on livestock agriculture which heavily taxes the planet’s resources.

“Scaling the biomanufacturing of cell-based milk to create a cost-competitive end product is a key challenge for the industry,” said Michael Aucoin, CEO of Eat Beyond. “This collaboration has the potential to make a significant impact on TurtleTree’s ability to do this. We need to be able to ultimately drive mainstream adoption of cultured products for them to be successful in the market, and that means producing these products efficiently, sustainably, and at scale.”

Globally, the non-dairy milk market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 14% from 2018 to 2024, reaching $38 billion (US) by 2024, according to a July 2021 report from SDKI. A 2020 report from the Good Food Institute found that non-dairy milk sales increased 86% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

“TurtleTree and Solar Biotech are two companies on the cutting edge of this emerging industry, and both are dedicated to developing a sustainable, climate-friendly supply chain,” added Aucoin. “If cell agriculture can be scaled in an environmentally sound way, this has the potential to truly revolutionize the way our food systems impact our planet. Replacing traditional animal products is something we must approach in a multitude of ways – and cell agriculture has a key role to play. ”